Faculty News

Fariba Zarinebaf presenting her recent book, Mediterranean Encounters, Trade and Pluralism in Early Modern Galata, April 2019.

Sholeh Wolpe (prize-winning poet and author) presenting and discussing her work with a group of students and faculty in May 2019.

Faculty (Professor Liu) and graduate student (Adam Tyson) presentations at the Mediterranean Encounters Seminar, May 2019.

• Muhammad Ali published, Islam and Colonialism: Becoming Modern in Indonesia and Malaya, Edinburgh University Press, U.K., 2016.
• Ruhi Khan published, Beyond Hybridity and Fundamentalism: Emerging Muslim Identity in Globalized India, Oxford University press, 2015.
• Erith Jaffe-Berg published, Commedia dell” Arte and the Mediterranean: Charting Journeys and Mapping ‘Others’, Ashgate, 2015.
• Sherine Hafez co-edited, Anthropology of the Middle East and North Africa, Into the New Millennium, Indiana University Press, 2013.
• Laila Lalami's book, The Moor's Account ( Pantheon Books, 2014) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, 2015.
• Jeff Sacks published, Iterations of Loss: Mutilation and Aesthetics of Form, Al-Shiyaq to Darwish, Fordham Press, 2015.
• Fariba Zarinebaf published her collection of essays, Women on the Margins: Gender, Charity and Justice in the Early Modern Middle East, Istanbul, 2014.
• Fariba Zarinebaf will be joining UCSD NEH summer Institute for K-12 teachers in Istanbul this summer ( July 1-30), Istanbul between East and West: Crossroads of History.

Student News

Donovinn Contreras-Enriquez Graduation Statement 2023

My name is Donovinn Contreras-Enriquez. Coming to UCR was an entirely different experience. I found an entire plethora of subjects and studies not available at my previous community colleges. 

However, I soon found my core interests to be Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern studies focusing from Alexander the Great to the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire. From my courses on the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, I learned how to examine ancient sources such as Plutarch, Polybius, and even Julius Caesar himself critically. In my classes on Middle Eastern history, I learned about the importance of epic literature such as the Shahnameh which translates as the Persian Book of Kings in the Iranian philosophy of governance and just rule that was spread throughout the rest of the Islamic world. I wrote several papers with the theme of Persian gardens as being based on the Zoroastrian belief of seeking to establish and bring forth a paradise on earth.

Now that I am graduating, I now look forward to applying for and attending graduate school so that I can complete and acquire my Ph.D. in History. I hope to have a career as a professor and continue passing down the lessons of the ancient past to the next generations and inspiring them in the same way that I was inspired by my professors here at UCR.

• Enrique Ochoa-Kaup (MEIS minor, Pols major) received a job at the University of California Press as an assistant editor in 2019.
• Mariam Baig (MEIS major) was accepted to the Master’s program at the Divinity School, the University of Chicago, in 2018.
• Kevin Hack, MEIS major ( 2014) got accepted to International Studies graduate program at John Hopkins University.
• Chris Seeling, MEIS major ( 2014) got accepted into the History graduate program at Georgetown University.
• Megan Awwad, MEIS major and graduating in June 2015 will be joining "Teach For America."
• Congratulations (tebrik) and Good luck to our alumni!!
• Winners of 2015-16 Best Paper Prize: Giosianna Turchetti (MEIS major)
  Honorable Mention: Enrique Ochoa-Kaup (MEIS Minor); Jill Hoo (English Major)

Giosiana Turchetti graduated from UCR with a B.S. in Anthropology and a B.A. in Middle East and Islamic Studies in Winter 2016. During her time at UCR she has been very involved with the University Honors program and submitted her Capstone Project entitled “The Evaluation of Ancient Egyptian Agricultural Practices and their Implementation in Modern Egyptian Society” in Spring 2016. During the 2014-2015 academic year, she studied at University College London in England where she focused her studies on Ancient Egypt. In 2015, she was elected into Phi Beta Kappa as a Junior. Beginning in Fall 2016, she will be pursuing an M.Phil. in Egyptology at Oxford in England. Her goal is to get a Ph.D. in Egyptology and become a museum curator or professor.

UCR Students participated for the first time in the Model Arab League Conference, a student leadership development program from the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, hosted by the University of La Verne from March 4th to 6th, 2016. The delegate team, which was student lead, represented the Kingdom of Morocco, as assigned. Two UCR students and MEIS majors, Megan Toussau and Sipan Dehjet won Distinguished Delegate awards. The Model Arab League is a diplomatic simulation and leadership program, which is designed to encourage student insight into the Middle East and build critical leadership skills from public speaking to negotiation and compromise. It is a unique program that UCR students greatly enjoyed the opportunity to participate and are eager to attend next year. Congratulations (mabruk) Megan and Sipan!

Students from HIST 125, Islam and Revolution in Iran, touring the Iranian neighborhood (Tehrangeles) with Fariba Zarinebaf in Westwood, LA in Spring 2015.

• Kevin Hack, MEIS major (2014) got accepted to International Studies graduate program at John Hopkins University.
• Chris Seeling, MEIS major (2014) got accepted into the History graduate program at Georgetown University.
• Megan Awwad, MEIS major and graduating in June 2015 will be joining "Teach For America."
• Congratulations (tebrik) and Good luck to our alumni!!